Premier Heavy Rock 9 Snare Drum - Reviews?

[bluejacketsfan]

This 9-inch deep brass snare drum has been one of those drums that I have wondered about for 35 years. I remember seeing it in the Premier catalog way back in the day, but I've never been in the same room as one. Has anyone here ever owned one that could give some reviews about it? From what I understand there are two versions of it. One version has a birch inner shell, and the other version is just the brass shell.

 

[steambent]

I bought one new right around 1990 and played it out a lot. They were cool looking but nothing super special about the sound in my opinion. I traded it for something I can’t remember now. I sweated heavily and the chrome held up but not the coating on the brass.

 

[Mcjnic]

I was gifted one in 1990 from a family member at one of those life achievement moments.
It had the inner wood liner.
It is long gone.
Not one I held on to.
But I do have fond memories of enjoying the sound and feel of it.

 

[bluejacketsfan]

I bought one new right around 1990 and played it out a lot. They were cool looking but nothing super special about the sound in my opinion. I traded it for something I can’t remember now. I sweated heavily and the chrome held up but not the coating on the brass.

It seems like the ones I have seen for sale can be described in the same way - nice looking chrome, tarnished brass.

 

[purity]

I love my HR9 even though I only picked it up earlier this year. I got lucky and grabbed it off Reverb for a really good price. The chrome and the lacquer were in excellent shape but I decided to have the shell glass bead blasted to match another Premier brass snare I have. I've never been a fan of the stress hoops (they kill the sound to me) that Premier shipped with the HR9 so I removed them and put on some stick saver hoops. The sound is much more versatile than you'd think given the size of the drum. Yeah, it can do that 80s deep sound with no problem, but it sounds great tuned up too.

I think there were 3 versions in total: 1) brass shell with wood liner, 2) brass shell with a P-85 style throw, and 3) brass shell with a signia strainer. Someone else probably remembers better than me but I think Premier stopping putting the stress hoops on the 3rd iteration and went to standard flange hoops. The snare I got is the 2nd version. It had remnants of some foam re-rings on the batter and snare side (not sure if they were stock) but the previous owner tried to remove them. I had the paint shop blast the inner shell too so all the residual foam and adhesive came off.

 

[Treviso1]

I love my HR9 even though I only picked it up earlier this year. I got lucky and grabbed it off Reverb for a really good price. The chrome and the lacquer were in excellent shape but I decided to have the shell glass bead blasted to match another Premier brass snare I have. I've never been a fan of the stress hoops (they kill the sound to me) that Premier shipped with the HR9 so I removed them and put on some stick saver hoops. The sound is much more versatile than you'd think given the size of the drum. Yeah, it can do that 80s deep sound with no problem, but it sounds great tuned up too.

I think there were 3 versions in total: 1) brass shell with wood liner, 2) brass shell with a P-85 style throw, and 3) brass shell with a signia strainer. Someone else probably remembers better than me but I think Premier stopping putting the stress hoops on the 3rd iteration and went to standard flange hoops. The snare I got is the 2nd version. It had remnants of some foam re-rings on the batter and snare side (not sure if they were stock) but the previous owner tried to remove them. I had the paint shop blast the inner shell too so all the residual foam and adhesive came off.

View attachment 584023

That's gorgeous! How did you deal with the badge and grommet? Did you remove the badge and how did you remove the grommet without damaging the inside of the shell? Did you put a new grommet on the badge holding it onto the drum?
Finally, what is glass bead blasting? Is it like sand blasting? Who does this kind of work? Did you the shell re-lacquered?
Thank you, in advance.
Rob

 

[rikkrebs]

I love my HR9 even though I only picked it up earlier this year. I got lucky and grabbed it off Reverb for a really good price. The chrome and the lacquer were in excellent shape but I decided to have the shell glass bead blasted to match another Premier brass snare I have. I've never been a fan of the stress hoops (they kill the sound to me) that Premier shipped with the HR9 so I removed them and put on some stick saver hoops. The sound is much more versatile than you'd think given the size of the drum. Yeah, it can do that 80s deep sound with no problem, but it sounds great tuned up too.

I think there were 3 versions in total: 1) brass shell with wood liner, 2) brass shell with a P-85 style throw, and 3) brass shell with a signia strainer. Someone else probably remembers better than me but I think Premier stopping putting the stress hoops on the 3rd iteration and went to standard flange hoops. The snare I got is the 2nd version. It had remnants of some foam re-rings on the batter and snare side (not sure if they were stock) but the previous owner tried to remove them. I had the paint shop blast the inner shell too so all the residual foam and adhesive came off.

View attachment 584023

That turned out absolutely beautiful

 

[purity]

That's gorgeous! How did you deal with the badge and grommet? Did you remove the badge and how did you remove the grommet without damaging the inside of the shell? Did you put a new grommet on the badge holding it onto the drum?
Finally, what is glass bead blasting? Is it like sand blasting? Who does this kind of work? Did you the shell re-lacquered?
Thank you, in advance.
Rob

I didn't remove the badge, just carefully taped it off with some electrical tape. I thought about trying to remove it but didn't see a good way to do it without damaging something.

Glass bead blasting is analogous to sand blasting but it's more gentle and doesn't remove as much material. The final finish has a matte texture and isn't 100% smooth, but it is pretty close. I think most shops that have sandblasting capabilities would be able to shoot glass bead too. It's not too expensive either, the shop charged me $80 for the HR9. I decided to leave shell raw so that it develops a patina over time. I did the same to a signia brass snare I had blasted about 6-7 months ago and it's just starting to develop some very light patina.

 

[purity]

Premier 14x9 Heavy Rock Nine Brass Snare Drum. | Reverb

This snare is a brass beast. Holy grail of Premier snare drums. Hard to find and rare Heavy Rock Nine controlled sound. Even more rare is the condition of this particular piece. As seen it is in beautiful condition. New heads top and bottom and blue grosgrain ribbon other wise all original. Very ...

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Just got listed on reverb.